Merry Christmas! This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast is all about family. John has a big announcement at the end of the episode, but starts things off with a story of a close encounter with one of the two bucks he is still trying to tag this season. The buck won this round, but there is still time left on the clock. After that, John talks about a family outing where his wife took a nice big boar with their daughter in the blind with her! Little Hallee did great and got to experience hunting for the second time this year. The very next morning, John took his brother, niece, and two nephews duck hunting on a little farm pond and ended up having a heck of a hunt. His nephew shot his very first duck which ended up being a banded mallard!

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John heads to west Texas to chase mule deer in the Guadalupe Mountains. John had been looking forward to this hunt since he booked it in the early summer of 2023. He was originally supposed to go to south Texas, but unfortunately the ranch he was supposed to hunt on sold. Luckily the outfitter was able to move some things around and John headed west for his first ever fully guided hunt.

Upon arrival, John quickly realized that the cards were stacked against him as far as the weather was concerned. Sustained winds of 20+ mph and gusts as high as 35 mph kept the action a little slow the first two days. On the third day however, the winds died and the temps dropped and those final two days turned out to be magical. When all was said and done, John barely had enough room in the cooler for all the meat he brought home, including a pleasant and unexpected surprise. And of course, things ended up coming down to the wire.

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John gets back on track and talks a little bit about how his 2024 Oklahoma rifle season went. Since John was unsuccessful, he is preparing for his favorite time of the year which is late season whitetail hunting. John talks a little late season strategy, and how he believes this may be one of the best and "easiest" times to kill a mature buck. Bucks big and small will become a slave to their stomachs again as they prepare for winter, and if you stay after it there is still time to put one on your wall.

John finishes this episode with a little pre hunt chat about his upcoming Texas Mule Deer hunt. There was one big kink in his hunt plans, but after ironing out a few details the hunt is still on and John can't wait. This will be Johns first ever guided hunt, and he is excited for the experience and the opportunity to chase a new critter in wild country.

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John takes some time to talk about his 2024 deer season so far, and the challenges he has encountered. John has done a lot of hunting this year, but it's been different than in the past. With November coming to a close, John really hasn't spent much time hunting his own properties. He has only hunted his family ranch a handful of times, and with the warmer than usual temperatures, those hunts have not been very productive. John does talk about a quick trip he made to the ranch, and also about his trip to Texas and the close encounter he had with his recurve bow. There is still a lot of season left, and John is ready to buckle down and get serious now.

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John is breaking down his controlled deer hunt at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. As soon as John found out he had been selected for the hunt back in June, he immediately began doing his homework and trying to learn as much as he could about the hunt and how it worked. What he found, is that there was not a ton of information out there on what to expect on this particular hunt. As he picked up bits and pieces from other hunters over the months leading up to the hunt, he still had a lot of questions leading up to the weekend of November 8th. After going through the process and coming home empty handed, he made up his mind to provide as much information as possible to future hunters who drew this coveted tag.

John briefly tells the story of his hunt and what he experienced, but the bulk of this episode is more about the process, the lessons learned, and what he would do differently next time. John lays out all of the rules of the hunt, and also talks about the terrain he encountered, the vegetation, and recommendations on gear to bring. John talks about the challenges of this hunt, and how just because you see lots of deer, does not mean its easy to actually fill a tag. He also shares some thoughts on the quality tag system, and some thoughts on whether or not this hunt may or may not be right for you.

This week John is celebrating the 200th episode of the Oklahoma Outdoors podcast. Almost 4 years of stories, education, and just downright fun. John takes some time at the end of the episode to not only thank the listeners for their support and encouragement over the years, but also to highlight some of his favorite episodes. This show has covered mountain lions, alligators, elk, pronghorn, fish, bears, mule deer, and of course the glorious whitetail buck. All of these critters just listed can be found right here in the Sooner state. 

The Episode timed out perfectly with a big announcement John has been wanting to make. To find out what that big news is, you'll have to check out episode 200 of the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, a proud member of the Sportsmens Empire Podcast Network!

Youth weekend has come and gone in Oklahoma, but this week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast John is sharing some of the success that his family had. It was hot and dry with bad winds for much of the weekend, but that didn't stop John from getting his niece and nephew out for a little deer hunting. It turned into a bit of a grind, but eventually they were able to get on a deer and fill the family freezer. In part 2 of this episode, John talks about the unusually warm weather Oklahoma and much of the country is experiencing, and how John thinks it will affect not only the upcoming rut movement, but also the late season deer hunting success rates.

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, we kick off the storytelling portion of the year with a dandy 200" buck taken on Opening day. 22 year old Hunter Wesberry picked up a new property this year, but had no idea what was in store for him and his family. After walking the property and doing a lot of scouting, he set up a trail camera and quickly got a photo of a buck with a lot of potential. As the summer went by and the buck continued to grow, Hunter knew this buck was special. Opening day came and the wind and weather conditions were perfect for what Hunter needed to go after the buck he called cactus. After only a few hours of sleep he climbed into his stand well before daylight and began the long waiting game.

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John talks about his recent adventure of trying to find the elusive Oklahoma black bear. The trip started off promising, and John was able to find some bear sign way up a remote river. The trip took a turn however when John hit a submerged object on the way back to the boat ramp that rendered his propeller essentially worthless. After hunting on his private land spot in the morning and stealing a propeller of an old jon boat, he was back in action for the evening. John also talks a little bit about the upcoming cold snap and some new bucks that have shown up ahead of it. It is looking the things may work out great for the upcoming youth weekend!

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John is changing things up a little bit for the opening weekend of the 2024 hunting season in Oklahoma. Due to not having the quality of bucks he has grown accustomed to chasing on his home place this year, he is hitting the road (or water) and trying something a little different. John plans to take his boat into a more remote portion of Oklahoma and chase public land bucks and bears. Thanks to some updated regulation changes this year, a bear tag is now included in the lifetime license package, meaning John and other lifetime license holders are able to hunt bears without buying additional tags. John plans to use his boat to access hard to reach public land places in hopes of tagging either a whitetail buck or black bear in south eastern Oklahoma with his bow.